Canopic jar inscribed for Minmose

Canopic jar inscribed for Minmose

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The owner of this canopic jar was Minmose, a troop captain whose name and title appear in the left hand column of the inscription. The rest of the text invokes the goddess Nephthys and the god Imsety, asking their protection for the contents of the jar. Nephthys was one of the four goddesses who protected the dead, and Imsety was one of the "four sons of Horus" who protected the four internal organs that were removed from the body during mummification. Imsety was usually linked with the goddess Isis to protect the canopic jar that held a person's liver. The association of Nephthys with Imsety in this inscription is a variant that is sometimes found in the New Kingdom. Traces of a pigment known as Egyptian blue are still visible in the hieroglyphs. The eyebrows, the pupils, and the cosmetic lines around the eyes were also originally painted.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Canopic jar inscribed for MinmoseCanopic jar inscribed for MinmoseCanopic jar inscribed for MinmoseCanopic jar inscribed for MinmoseCanopic jar inscribed for Minmose

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.